Weekly note 3 2017.11.19

Expressions

...and a pitiful moan will go around the room.

go around

1.消息或笑话流传，传播;

2.造访;拜访;

例句: Mike went around to see them.迈克去拜访了他们。

3.经常做;习惯打扮成;

例句: I had got in the habit of going around with bare feet...我已经习惯光脚。

4.都能分到;够每人份;

例句: Eventually we will not have enough water to go around.最终，我们将没有足够的水供给大家 。

But as a writer I’ve learned that scientific and technical material can be made accessible to the layman.

layman 门外汉 【反义词】expert

...for expressing how we feel about things and for performing complicated acts could do little more than fumble with sensory inputs of the moment.

fumble with 笨手笨脚地做，胡乱摸找

I told them not to use the special vocabulary of education as a crutch, almost any subject can be made accessible in good English.

crutch

1. (腿脚受伤用的）T形拐杖

2. (常指过度的)依靠，撑，拄【单】【贬】

例句: As an atheist, he believes that religion is just an emotional crutch for the insecure.作为一个无神论者，他认为宗教不过是缺乏信心的人的精神 支柱。

In sports, all is writ large and writ in concrete.

writ

1.法 令状,书 命令,传票

2.Holy Writ 圣经

3.writ (古) write 的过去式.过去分词

writ large

1. 显然的;公然

例句：Mistrust was writ large on her face.她脸上明显流露出不信任的神情。

2. (于名词后) 明摆着;公然

例句：This is deception writ large.这是明 张胆的欺骗。

I could go on, mining every sport for its lingo and extracting from the mother lode a variety of words found nowhere else in the mother tongue.

mother lode

原义为:a mine that is full of gold, silver, etc;

引申为a place where you can find a lot of a particular type of object.

例句：Her own experiences have provided her with a mother lode of material for her songs.

她亲身的经历为她的歌曲提供了取之不尽的素材。

The ego of the modern athlete has in turn rubbed off on the modern sportswriter.

Rub off on 影响;感染

例句: He was a tremendously enthusiastic teacher and that rubbed off on all the children.

rub原意是擦，揉搓的意思

rub sb's nose in it

揭(某 )的疮疤; 断提起(某 )以前的过失

例句：Sue failed her exam, so just to rub her nose in it, I put my certificate up on the wall. Sue考试没有及格，所以我把我的证书贴在墙上，就是为了让她难堪。

...because it jogs a set of beliefs and forces us to reexamine them.

jog

1.轻轻地推 [撞] ,摇动; 轻碰 (以促使注意)

2.摇晃前进;缓缓地，磨磨蹭蹭地移动

例句：The cart jogged down the narrow road. 货车缓缓地沿著狭窄的路往前移动。

3. 慢跑

jog sb's memory

唤起(某 的)记忆，提醒(某 )

They will trot out the hard-won words of their college education.

trot out 反复说，重复说

If you say that a person trots out old ideas or information, you are criticizing him or her for repeating them in a way that is not new or interesting.

Criticism is the stage on which journalists do their fanciest strutting.

strut 神气活现、昂首阔步

引申为在批评作品这个舞台上神气活现地表演自己的见识。 

例句：I strutted around Chicago as if I were really somebody. 我在芝加哥昂首阔步地四处走，好像自己真是个人物似的。

例句：Wimbledon is the opportunity for all the world's best tennis players to strut their stuff. 温布顿网球公开赛是全世界顶尖网球选手施展身手的好机会

Florid adjectives smack of the panting prose with which Vogue likes to disclose its latest chichi discovery.

smack of 令人想起;类似于;含有...的意味

例句：The engineers' union was unhappy with the motion, saying it smacked of racism.  程师联盟对这项提议感到很不满，称该提议有点种族主义的味道。

Summary

In this week’s reading, we covered five chapters about Zinsser’s suggestions on writing about science, business contents, sports, criticism and reviews, as well as humor.

Writing is not so complicated a thing that can only be achieved by professional writers. It is thinking on paper. Clear thinking leads to clear writing. Writers should try to deliver their senses, feelings, and thoughts to readers in the most efficient way possible.

Regardless of genre or register, the fundamental principle for non-fiction writing is to be original and accessible in style, rich in humanity and truth to the fact. To hook the readers, it’s always nice to add a pinch of human element.

We should also try to be good observers, since everyday life is a good source of writing materials, which is hardly possible to run out.